Daily Life is mandatory reading for me.
Its witty, funny and insightful articles shine a spotlight on white privilege, racial profiling, and pornography - issues that don’t always get an airing in mainstream media. That’s why I leapt upon Erin Stewart’s story Paid to Watch Porn last week, the piece canvassed Jeff Sparrow’s new book Money Shot for its insight into the porn debate.
Stewart’s rundown of both sides of this fractious debate didn't disappoint, but I couldn’t help but take issue with one detail in particular: its use of the word ‘immoral’ - a word that invariably gets paired with the enemy of all well-meaning, reasonable people: Christians.
Why don’t we all shudder now and get it out of the way?
To be fair, the characterisation of Christians as the moral police is a tiny point in Stewart’s otherwise fine article. But when she talks about the anti-porn movement’s unlikely alliance between radical feminists and Christians - specifically, “Christian lobbies who think that depictions of pre-marital sex are immoral” - as a Christian I find it hard to turn the other cheek.
It’s true that anti-pornography activists might be taken aback at finding themselves campaigning alongside people with radically different values.
It’s my hope, however, that their initial shock can subside in to pleasant surprise as members of each group discover much to like about the other. I’ve heard a prominent, Australian, anti-pornography campaigner say as much about the friendships formed as a result of gathering around a common cause.
But it’s too easy to assume that immorality is the only thing Christians want to bang on about (pun intended), and pre-marital sexual immorality at that. Maybe prominent Christians talk about sex way too much, but if pre-marital sex was really the issue, then why haven’t we seen moves to boycott Magic Mike, Bridesmaids, No Strings Attached, or any other film of recent years depicting the dreaded knocking of the knees before a ring is put on it?
When it comes to porn, Christians are far more concerned about the effects it can have on people. These days it’s entirely normal to first encounter pornography at the tender age of 11. That age is "tender" not because I’m waxing nostalgic about the innocence of childhood - though that is an issue. It's because sexologists tell us that at that age young people are far more susceptible to being influenced and shaped by the often violent and exploitative images found in pornography.
There’s also a capitalist dimension to the Christian critique of porn. Like any other massive industry - Big Pharma, Big Tobacco, Big Food - Big Porn is big business and so Christians are concerned about unrestrained greed being generated from an industry based on exploitation.
But we haven’t yet dealt with that horrible term "immoral". It’s the kind of word that probably never went down well in polite company, but today it’s acquired a nasty, judgey, self-righteous zing - courtesy of, well, people like me.
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I’ll be the first to concede that Christians haven’t done so well when it comes to loving others instead of judging them. Too often we’ve been more like that crowd talked about in the Gospel of John, that drags the woman caught in adultery before Jesus and bids him to condemn her as they do.
So it’s entirely regrettable that the failure of Christians past and present to live up to Jesus’ example has given people reason to dismiss the faith entirely. But the familiar media portrayal of Christians en masse as a harsh, unforgiving bunch doesn’t do justice to the efforts of faithful Christians both in Australia and abroad who are less interested in policing the sexual morality of others than in fighting poverty, sex trafficking and hunger, and giving an education to those who want one.
And if you don’t believe me, just hear Half the Sky co-author and New York Times columnist Nick Kristof jump to the defence of Christians involved in humanitarian work: “I’m not particularly religious myself, but I stand in awe of those I’ve seen risking their lives… and it sickens me to see that faith mocked at New York cocktail parties.” For Kristoff, that “casual dismissal” of Christians amounts to a “reverse bigotry” that is “profoundly unfair” to the evangelical movement as a whole.
In fact, Kristof may have some wisdom for those feeling awkward at the way anti-porn campaigns make strange bedfellows of groups that might not always see eye to eye - like Christians and radical feminists:
“Religious people and secular people alike do fantastic work on humanitarian issues - but they often don’t work together because of mutual suspicions. If we could bridge this ‘God gulf,’ we would make far more progress on the world’s ills.”
Justine Toh is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity and an Honorary Associate of the Department of Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies at Macquarie University.
A Christian take on porn
A Christian take on porn
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: A Christian take on porn
Good article Strop... some very interesting points in there....
Though I would characterize it as just plain old bigotry....no different from any other kind....
.“I’m not particularly religious myself, but I stand in awe of those I’ve seen risking their lives… and it sickens me to see that faith mocked at New York cocktail parties.” For Kristoff, that “casual dismissal” of Christians amounts to a “reverse bigotry” that is “profoundly unfair” to the evangelical movement as a whole
Though I would characterize it as just plain old bigotry....no different from any other kind....
